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Harden the Target – Allandale’s Crime Seminar with APD Representatives

by | May 29, 2009 | Neighborhood Safety and Crime

IMG_0084 District Representatives Officer Kelly LaHood and Troy Schouest attended the Allandale Neighborhood Association's meeting last night to talk with residents about recent crime in the area and what is being done about it. Allandale is now a "hot spot" meaning the number of burglary of vehicles and burglary of residences in the area has risen to the point to where the Austin Police Department is spending more time patrolling the area. There have been 19 burglary of vehicles and 19 burglary of residences in the last month. Yesterday there was a burglary of residence reported on Carleen Dr. 

Officer Kelly LaHood explained to the 30-plus residents in attendance there is only so much APD can do in the area and it is important the neighborhood work together and with APD in addressing the problem. She complimented Laura DiCarlo's efforts in organizing the block captain network and in coordinating neighborhood safety efforts in Allandale. In fact, she said, Hyde Park was the only other central city neighborhood that was as active when it comes to neighborhood safety. 

Allandale Has a Burglary Problem

by | May 24, 2009 | Neighborhood Safety and Crime

Burglaries are up significantly in Allandale over last year. Comparing same period this year with last and you can see the number of homes that have been robbed has more than doubled. The number of burglary of vehicles has increased dramatically as well.

Comparison of Selected Crimes in Allandale 
01/01/08 – 05/24/08 compared to 01/01/09 – 05/24/09.

Crime

2008

2009

Change

BURGLARY OF RESIDENCE

16

44

28

BURGLARY OF VEH

67

89

22


Source: APD Crime Viewer:
http://coagis1.ci.austin.tx.us/website/CrimeViewer/viewer.htm

Below is a note from Laura DiCarlo, Allandale's Safety Coordinator, about this week's meeting with a representative from the Austin Police Department.

This Thursday at 7:15pm at Yarbrough Library (2200 Hancock Dr.) Allandale District Representative Kelly LaHood will meet with all interested about recent crimes in our area. Officer LaHood will speak about crime prevention tips, trends APD is seeing, field questions, etc.  For questions regarding this seminar or if you are interested in becoming a block captain, please contact me at 323-6929 or lhdicarlo@yahoo.com.

Thanks,

Laura DiCarlo

Constable’s Notebook May 2009 – City Elections

by | May 6, 2009 | Other

By Constable Bruce Elfant

The 2008 elections turned out to be a tale of two cities; record high turnouts for the presidential primaries and the general election, but record low voter turnouts for the city elections where more than 90% of voters stayed home. Certainly the presidential election was important and more than 130 million voters set a new direction for our nation.  However, city elections also matter.  When I came to Austin in the 1970s voter turnout in local elections occasionally exceeded 40%. It has steadily declined to where less than 10% of voters skewed in certain parts of town now determine the outcome of city elections. 

Volunteer for Disabled Parking Enforcement Program

by | May 6, 2009 | Neighborhood Safety and Crime

Initiated in 1995, the Disabled Parking Enforcement Program is run by citizen volunteers. Citizen volunteers must be Travis County residents at least 18 years of age, have no criminal record and complete a 4-hour state mandated training class. If you would like to help make our public spaces more accessible for all people regardless of physical ability, then this might be for you. We are looking for active people who are often out and about, and while running errands, for example, will be able to issue tickets to disabled parking violators on a consistent basis.